Intercultural Training

 For nearly four decades, we have been contributing to our clients’ success with customized training solutions. Our clients include numerous well-known companies across all industries, ranging from small and medium-sized businesses to large corporations. Our relationship with our clients is characterized by a high level of trust, which has led to an unusually long-standing partnership.

We were among the first B2B training providers to include intercultural communication training in our portfolio approximately 25 years ago. With our formula for success—“values-based action, the highest training quality, and excellent training management”—we quickly made a name for ourselves in this segment as well, establishing ourselves as one of the most renowned intercultural training institutes in the continuing education market.

Through close collaboration with our experts and our clients, we remain up to date on the latest scientific findings and the challenges of globalization facing companies. This enables us to consistently offer tailor-made concepts for intercultural competence training.

 Our training programs make a difference! The success of our intercultural training programs is based on a balanced mix of methods that address the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral levels. Our top priority is to actively engage participants through experiential exercises, the sharing of experiences, and practical application.

Following brief introductory sessions, participants in our intercultural competency training programs are given ample opportunity to sharpen their self-awareness, reflect on stereotypes, try out new communication strategies, and develop alternative courses of action. To this end, we use simulations of realistic scenarios, role-playing, discussions, and group work. We draw on participants’ existing experiences and utilize a variety of interactive tools and exercises, as well as selected case studies. Knowledge transfer thus begins during the intercultural training itself. To facilitate implementation in everyday work, we work with participants to develop individual action plans.

Our Methods at a Glance:

Brief theoretical introductions to cultural models, cultural dimensions, and cultural standards; short films to convey knowledge; incorporation of participants’ existing intercultural experiences; discussions; self-reflection and small-group reflection; Simulations of real-world situations; role-playing; interactive exercises; practical application; analysis of real-world case studies; interaction and self-assessment exercises; development of an individual action plan for the period following the training.

 You can rest assured that we only assign highly qualified trainers to your intercultural training programs. International experience is just as important to us as proven methodological expertise in intercultural competency training and a passion for the training profession!

Our dedicated team of intercultural experts looks forward to preparing your employees for an assignment abroad, raising their awareness of international collaboration through cultural awareness training, or conducting country-specific training for any target country you specify.

Qualifications of our intercultural trainers:

• More than 3 years of international training experience
• Intercultural background and/or extensive experience living abroad
• Solid professional training or a college degree
• Comprehensive trainer training and/or certification as a trainer in intercultural communication, and, if applicable, recognized coaching certification
• Regular continuing education in cultural theories and methods for intercultural training
• Pedagogical skills and sensitivity to participants’ individual needs
• Professional demeanor, flexibility, and the ability to work well in a team
• Enthusiasm for working with people from different cultures
• Proficiency in using MS Teams, Zoom, etc., both technically and methodologically

We offer only customized training programs! It’s important to us to understand exactly what learning goals your employees hope to achieve through their intercultural training and what prior knowledge they already possess. This allows us to ensure that participants in our intercultural training programs acquire precisely the knowledge and skills they truly need.

How do we do this? We conduct a detailed needs assessment using a structured questionnaire. We want to know what prior intercultural experience your employees already have, what their roles are within the company, and which intercultural skills they wish to develop. In a second step, a preliminary discussion takes place with the trainer to further refine the content.

Based on this needs assessment, we tailor the program’s content and methodology to the target group. If your company has its own processes for needs assessment, we will, of course, follow your guidelines.

With our excellent pool of trainers, we can offer intercultural competency training for any cultural region you specify. Are you planning an assignment abroad, or do your specialists and managers regularly interact with people from a specific culture? Our “map” covers destination countries such as the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Turkey, Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, South Africa, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, and many more.

Upon request, we can also conduct all training sessions designed to optimize intercultural communication in English or the local language, such as Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, etc.

We also tailor the training format entirely to your preferences: virtual live training (e.g., via MS Teams) is just as possible as a hybrid seminar, an in-person session, or a custom-designed blended learning program (e.g., as a “Learning Journey”).

Of course, we also offer various options for acquiring knowledge on the topic of intercultural communication online through self-directed learning: with our microlearning modules designed to prepare participants for a specific training session and/or to review and reinforce the content of an intercultural training program. We can provide these “learning nuggets” in the form of short videos, mini-audio clips (or podcasts), interactive quizzes, short guides, PTTs, or one-pagers.

You can expect a lot! From the onboarding of our intercultural experts to personalized consulting, feedback, and knowledge transfer—we use a rigorous process to meet the highest quality standards for your intercultural training. For us, quality assurance begins with the selection of trainers:

Clearly defined qualification criteria and a structured onboarding process that includes a personal interview guarantee that only the best experts become part of our team.

And what happens next? Through a structured process consisting of consultation, needs analysis (see “Customized Training”), feedback, and transfer assurance, we ensure that your intercultural training is a complete success!

For us, quality assurance also includes the continuous development of our training concepts. Through ongoing dialogue with our experts and our clients, we always stay up to date with the latest trends in the content, methods, and formats of our intercultural communication training!

Our quality process at a glance:

• Structured onboarding of intercultural trainers
• Structured needs assessment (questionnaire, preliminary discussion)
• Feedback & evaluation (questionnaire, various feedback sessions)
• Ensuring knowledge transfer through experiential methods, personal action plans, learning nuggets, and follow-up training/coaching sessions
• Ongoing dialogue with our clients and our experts

Our training solutions for intercultural communication are as diverse as the challenges your company faces in the context of internationalization!

With our outstanding team of intercultural experts, we can offer tailored solutions for every situation and every target group:

• Cultural Awareness Training – we help your employees develop an understanding of international collaboration
• Expat Preparation – we ensure that your expatriates (and their families, if applicable) are well-prepared before heading to their destination country, or that your impatriates settle in quickly in Germany. To this end, we work closely with your Global Mobility department.
• Culture-Specific Training – we equip your employees to handle in-person or virtual interactions with your international business contacts or colleagues
• Intercultural Team Building – we help your international teams collaborate smoothly and trustingly across borders
• Keynote Presentations – we explore various fascinating intercultural topics in a lively and informative way and encourage initial reflection.